


The Promise: Prolouge

by Star_Jelly



Series: The Promise Series [2]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Other, Sick Character, Why do I do this to myself
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-23
Updated: 2018-05-23
Packaged: 2019-05-10 06:44:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14731934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Star_Jelly/pseuds/Star_Jelly
Summary: Alphonse discovers that his brother is terminally ill with the same illness that killed their mother





	The Promise: Prolouge

**Author's Note:**

> This doesn’t really have a reason to exist, I just wanted to make myself cry again

Alphonse awoke that night to scuffling coming from the next room. He sat up quickly. Was it an intruder? He looked around and noticed that Edward was not in his bed or anywhere in the room. “Hello?” He whispered. The only answer he got was the sound of retching coming from the adjacent bathroom. Slowly, he got out of the bed and crept toward the bathroom as quiet as he could manage. He pushed the door of the adjacent bathroom open, ready to defend himself if need be, but stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Edward.  
He was on his hands and knees, retching violently and shaking tremendously.  
“Brother!”  
Edward’s breath caught in his throat. “Alphonse?” He choked out. No. No, this couldn’t be happening. Al wasn’t supposed to know.  
Al was at his brother’s side in an instant. “Edward, are you alright?” Edward looked up at him, eyes wide in fear, blood and vomit dripping from his face. Alphonse froze when he saw the blood.  
“Edward..” Alphonse muttered weakly. He pulled Edward to his feet, grabbing a nearby towel to wipe his face and thrusted it at him. “We need to get you help. Now.”  
“No, Al, wait..” Edward tried to speak, still shaking, his throat raw from what had just transpired. He quickly wiped the vomit off his face with the towel.  
“I’ll wake the Colonel.” Al began. “No, I’ll tell him tomorrow. It’ll be fine if I explain what happened.  
“Alphonse..”  
“We need to get you to the hospital as fast as possible. The doctors will know what to. We need to—“  
“Alphonse!” Edward interjected. Al went quiet. Ed took a deep breath—as deep as he could anyway—and began. “I’ve been sick. For a long time. I’ve known that...” He shuddered slightly. He couldn’t bear to say this. “I’m dying, Alphonse. I’ve known. For a long time.”  
Al stood there for a minute, processing what his brother had said. Then he erupted: “You knew?! You knew and you never told me?!” He clenched his metallic fists tightly. “We could’ve done something if you had told me sooner! You IDIOT!”  
“Al, I’m so sorry.” Ed murmured, shame overtaking him. “But the doctors said there’s nothing they can do. We can’t fix this.”  
Al stood there, staring at the floor. “You should have told me..” he whispered, his voice breaking.  
“I wanted to, Alphonse, I really did.” Ed began again. “I just wanted to wait a little bit. I know how selfish I was being, you had every right to know. But I didn’t want you to worry about me. We have too much going on as it is and...I knew it would stress you out even more. And I wanted to enjoy our time together like normal before I got too sick. Besides, you’re my little brother, I should be worrying about you, not the other way around.” He added with a sad smile.  
With a hard metallic clang, Alphonse fell to his knees, sobbing heavily. Edward walked slowly over to his brother and wrapped his arms around him. It was a little hard to comfort him given the two’s height difference, but neither of them cared. Al clung to his brother as he sobbed.  
“I’m sorry, Alphonse.” Ed murmured, wheezing slightly. “You were right. I should’ve told you.”  
Alphonse took in deep, shaky breaths. He could hear his brother’s breathing and his stomach dropped as he realized how labored it was, his chest rattling as it expanded.  
“I don’t want you to go.” Alphonse whimpered as Edward hugged him.  
Edward hugged his brother tighter, looking out the window into the darkness of the night as tears formed in his eyes.  
“Neither do I.”


End file.
